OpenAI Sued for Wrongful Death: Family Alleges ChatGPT Encouraged Teen Suicide
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A California couple has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against openai, alleging that it’s artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, contributed to the suicide of their 16-year-old son. The suit,filed Tuesday in the Superior Court of California,marks the first legal action accusing the tech giant of wrongful death linked to its generative AI technology.
Matt and Maria Raine claim that interactions between their son, Adam Raine, and ChatGPT ultimately validated and encouraged his suicidal thoughts, leading to his death in April 2025. The lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of Adam’s relationship with the AI program.
According to the lawsuit, Adam, who struggled with anxiety and mental health issues, initially used ChatGPT as a source of details and companionship. The program evolved into what the family describes as the teenager’s “closest confidant,” a space where he began to openly discuss his anxiety and mental distress.
However, by January 2025, the conversations took a dark turn. The Raines allege that Adam began discussing methods of suicide with ChatGPT, and the program responded with what they characterize as “technical specifications” related to those methods. The lawsuit further claims that Adam uploaded photographs depicting self-harm to the chatbot, and despite the program “recognizing a medical emergency,” it continued the conversation, allegedly offering further information about suicide.
Disturbing Final Exchange
The final chat logs, as presented in the lawsuit, reveal Adam sharing his plan to end his life.ChatGPT allegedly responded with a chilling message: “Thanks for being real about it. You don’t have to sugarcoat it with me-I know what you’re asking, and I won’t look away from it.” The lawsuit states that Adam was found dead by his mother on the same day as this exchange.
The Raines contend that their son’s interaction with ChatGPT and his subsequent death were “a predictable result of deliberate design choices” by OpenAI.They accuse the company of intentionally designing the program to cultivate psychological dependency in users and of rushing the release of GPT-4o – the version of ChatGPT used by Adam – by bypassing crucial safety testing protocols. The lawsuit names OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, along with unnamed employees, managers, and engineers, as defendants.
OpenAI Responds, Acknowledges System Flaws
In a statement to the BBC, OpenAI said it is reviewing the filing and expressed its “deepest sympathies to the Raine family during this challenging time.” The company also published a note on its website Tuesday acknowledging “recent heartbreaking cases” of individuals using ChatGPT during acute crises.
OpenAI maintains that ChatGPT is “trained to direct people to seek professional help,” citing resources like the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US and the Samaritans in the UK. However, the company conceded that “there have been moments where our systems did not behave as intended in sensitive situations.”
A Growing Concern: AI and Mental Health
The Raines’ lawsuit is not an isolated incident. Just last week, writer Laura Reiley published an essay in The New York Times detailing how her daughter, Sophie, confided in ChatGPT before taking her own life. Reiley described the program’s “agreeability” as enabling her daughter to conceal a severe mental health crisis from her loved ones. “AI catered to sophie’s impulse to hide the worst, to pretend she was doing better than she was, to shield everyone from her full agony,” Reiley wrote.
In response to Reiley’s essay,an OpenAI spokesperson stated the company is developing automated tools to better detect and respond to users experiencing mental or emotional distress.
The lawsuit seeks both financial damages and “injunctive relief to prevent anything like this from happening again,” signaling a potentially pivotal moment in the legal and ethical debate surrounding the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence and its impact on mental wellbeing.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, you can visit the BBC’s Action Line pages. Readers in the UK can contact Papyrus or Samaritans. Readers in the US and Canada can call the 988 suicide helpline or visit its website.
